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towers. The same monarch granted the custody of
the castle, and of the territories of Waterford and
Desmond, to Thomas Fitz-Anthony, at a yearly rent
of 250 marks, but retained the fee in the Crown; during
the minority of Edw. I., it was granted to John Fitz-
Thomas at a yearly rent of 500 marks, but was sub-
sequently recovered by Edward in a judgment against
Thomas Fitz-Maurice, his cousin and heir, and in 1292
given to Thomas Fitz-Anthony. In 1447, the castle,
honour, lands, and barony of Dungarvan, together with
other extensive territories, were granted to John Talbot,
Earl of Shrewsbury; but the unsettled state of affairs
during that period prevented the improvement of the
town either in extent or importance. In 1463, an act
was passed at Wexford, setting forth that, “whereas
the lordship of Dungarvan was of old the greatest
ancient honour belonging to the King in Ireland, and
that by war and trouble, and want of English govern-
ance, it is for the most part totally destroyed; for the
relief and succour whereof it is ordained that the port-
reeve and commonalty, their heirs and successors, may
have and enjoy all manner of free grants, liberties, privi-
leges, and customs as the tenants and inhabitants of the
honourable honour of Clare in England enjoyed, with a
further power to take customs of all kinds of merchan-
dise bought and sold within the franchises, as the mayor
and commons of Bristol did, to be yearly expended on
the walls and other defences of the town, under the
inspection of the Hon. Sir Thomas, Earl of Desmond,
and his heirs.” By another statute of the same parlia-
ment, the entire fee farm of the town was granted to
the said Earl during his life. In the 4th of Hen. VIII.,
an act was passed confirming the castle and all its
dependencies to the Crown; but in the 26th of this
reign the manor was granted to Sir Pierce Butler, who
was likewise created Earl of Ossory, and appointed
seneschal, constable, and governor of the castle and
manor of Dungarvan, into which the Earl of Desmond
had forcibly intruded. In the reign of Edw, VI.,
Robert St. Leger, brother to the Lord-Deputy St. Leger,
was confirmed in the government of the castle, to which
he had been appointed in the preceding reign, on con-
dition of keeping a proper ward in it; and other con-
stables for the crown were subsequently appointed with
extensive powers and emoluments, to one of whom,
Henry Stafford, a commission of martial law, extending
over the. whole county of Waterford, was directed, in
the first year of the reign of Elizabeth. In 1576, the
Lord-Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, came from Waterford
to thus place, where he was met by the Earl of Desmond,
who, with great professions of loyalty, offered his services
in reducing the country to obedience; but towards the
close of the year 1579, when Sir William Pelham, then
Lord-Justice, was at Waterford, the Earl led a large
insurgent force to this place, with which the 400 foot
and 100 horse, which had been sent against him, were
unable to contend. In the 2nd of James L the manor
was granted to Sir George Thornton, but subsequently
was with the castle, by act of parliament, vested in the
Earl of Cork, from whom it descended to its present
proprietor, the Duke of Devonshire. ln the 7th of his
reign, James, in reward of the loyalty of the inhabit-
ants during the reign of Elizabeth, granted them a new
charter of incorporaton; but early in, the rebellion of
1641, they broke their allegiance, and took part with
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the King’s enemies; in March 1642 the town was, how-
ever, taken by the Lord President of Minister, who
placed in it a royal garrison, but it was soon after
retaken by surprise, and the English inhabitants were
plundered. The insurgents, while in occupation of this
place, exported merchandise to France, and in return
received warlike stores for fortifying the town and
castle, of which they kept possession till 1647, when
they were taken by Lord Inchiquin with a force of 1500
foot and the same number of horse. The town remained
in the possession of the Royalist party till December
1649, when Cromwell, having abandoned the siege of
Waterford, advanced to besiege it; after a regular in-
vestment and a few days’ siege, in the course of which
several neighbouring fortresses were taken by detach-
ments from his army, the town surrendered at discre-
tion. It is said that Cromwell ordered all the inhabit-
ants to be put to the sword, but recalled his mandate in
consequence of a female drinking to his health as he
entered the town, which, with the exception of the
castle and the church, he saved from being plundered
by his troops. The charter of the inhabitants was
renewed by Richard Cromwell in 1650, and m 1689 a
new charter was granted by James II., which, on the
accession of William, was annulled.
The town, which contains 1570 houses, is situated
at the head of a spacious bay to which it gives name,
on a peninsula formed by two arms of the bay; and
under the auspices of His Grace the Duke of Devon-
shire has been much improved. It consists of one prin-
cipal street, called Mulgrave-street, extending from went
to east, and dividing in the latter direction into two
short branches leading to the mouth of the port; from
these several others branch off in various directions
towards the line of quays, which extends along the
shore. On the south and west are extensive ranges of
inferior houses, and on the north is Devonshire-square,
from which a handsome street leads to the bridge across
the inlet, a massive structure of one arch 75 feet in
span, erected at an expense of £50,000 by the Duke of
Devonshire, in 1815, and communicating, by a causeway
350 yards in length, with the suburb of Abbeyside, on
the main shore. The inhabitants were forinerly supplied
with water from the small river Phynisk, brought by an
aqueduct constructed about the middle of the last
century, by aid of a parliamentary grant; this source of
supply having been cut off, wells havu been sunk in
various parts of the town, but the supply of pure water
is rather scanty, that of the wells being fit only for
culinary purposes. Immediately adjoining the town
are fine springs of pure water, which might be con-
veyed into it at little expense. The barracks for
infantry are adapted for four officers and sixty non-
commissioned officers and privates. From its favour-
able and very healthy situation on the coast, this town
has become a place of resort for sea-bathing, and hot and
cold baths are at present in progress of erection. The
fishery on the Nymph bank has always afforded em-
ployment to a considerable number of the inhabitants,
and the grant of the tonnage bounty tended greatly to
its increase. In 1823, 163 boats and about 1100 men
were employed in the fishery, and more than 1000 tons
of excellent fish were procured for the supply of the
surrounding country; the sum granted in bounties
(since withdrawn) was £2647; and as the wives and